Me:
JJ is probably playing a little poker to see if he can get NYRA to sweeten the pot
The Internet:
Mine That Bird had this to say:
And if you’re looking for something else to read about, try Randy Moss’s new blog at DRF!
Posted by dana on Aug 24 2009
Filed Under: Bud Morton, Geldings, 2009, Twitter, Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, Internet, Sportsmanship, NYRA, Wooo!, 3yo, :), Randy Moss, Racing
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Commentator winning the 2008 Whitney (Bud Morton)
During my discussion with Peter Rotondo about the Breeders’ Cup charities I couldn’t help but mention how unfortunate it is that there are no BC W&YI races at Saratoga. As it turns out, this is not the case!
He informed me that since the original challenge schedule was published that NYRA determined that it would allow 8 races in the program, the first one being the Whitney on August 8th and the remaining 7 being carded at Belmont.
How do you like them apples… isn’t it great when everyone gets along? See you at the Spa!
Posted by dana on Jul 08 2009
Filed Under: Bud Morton, 2009, NYRA, Breeders' Cup, Saratoga, Racing
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Kent D. and Summer Bird help us kick off summer the right way (budmeister 26.2)
Like Curlin, I do better with an outing on the track before the marquee event. On previous Belmont days I had already been to the classy & classic Belmont at least once prior to the big day, not this year.
After getting into a comfortable groove of playing from home and not worrying about things like factoring in time to wait on line for the bathroom or having to hear annoying conversations all day, would I be able to cash some tickets and enjoy the day? Cash some tickets, one. Enjoy the day, definitely!
Almost immediately we ran into Kevin of Colin’s Ghost, who was sitting not too far from us. During a rousing game of stump the guitarist, we also got a chance to see Miss Brooklyn Backstretch and Alan of Bug Boys. Superfecta, Equispace and Raceday360 were all in attendance, although our paths did not cross. It’s always nice to see one’s online pals offline!
Our seats were fantastic, just shy of the finish line in the 3rd floor grandstand. With only a few brief exceptions our neighbors were enjoyable as well. The couple sitting to our right were real racing fans, she had even placed a $20 win bet on Mine That Bird in the Derby! She said she thought the trainer had a quiet confidence in an interview… that method worked out a lot better than most. Not sure how they fared on the day.
To our left were two tween girls who seemed to come from a racing family as they knew horses, trainers and jockeys by name. Sprinkled in with talk about the horses were copious amounts of giggling about Facebook and some high pitched squealing. Swifty kept reminding me that it was better than drunk frat boys smoking cigars… he was right.
Whoever had tickets directly behind us did not show so we had a rotating cavalcade of guest neighbors. Some were inoffensive but one guy narrated the Acorn on the phone to someone while later on another one ate a stinky sausage sandwich while putting his bare foot on my seat and simultaneously telling his friends that they should “grab some girls on the way to cash their tickets so they could do a lap dance for them”. “Dude, I’m serious”. Good luck with that. Fortunately, neither of these pests lasted more than one race.
I generally ignore my phone at the track (as anyone who has ever tried to call me at the track can attest to) but did manage to check in on twitter from time to time. Here are few notable tweets:
As the stakes portion of the day got underway, Jessica remarked:
Loving hearing the Belmont crowd roar. Nothing beats a big day at the racetrack
The most astute handicapping comment I saw all day came courtesy of Dan Shapiro:
o_crunk had his usually witty observations:
And bloodstock got the biggest chuckle with:
Well at least a horse sporting a pair. Finally won a triple crown race
Sporting a pair or not, there were a lot of impressive performances yesterday but the most impressive was Fabulous Strike’s insane run in the True North. Battling Sixthirteen to run outrageous splits (21.85 / 43.62! / 55.28 / 1:07.85) only to pull away with the authority in the stretch… could that have been the one of the best performances of the year? I didn’t notice the splits until after the race, he made it look so easy that I thought the race was a little hum drum…. ha!
True North:
(partymanners)
The Just A Game marked my first bone head move of the day. In addition to Forever Together I liked Caribbean Sunset, Diamondrella and Modern Look in that order. The thing that kept me from liking Modern Look more was Gomez. In her previous race he gave her what I’ve come to call “The Hard Spun Ride”, strangling her instead of letting her run and it looked to me like that cost her last out (not sure she would have won but think she might have done better). I liked the way Modern Look looked in the parade and went with her instead of Diamondrella. Lo and behold GoGo strangled her on the backstretch and she finished last.
Just A Game:
(partymanners)
Bone head move number two came in the Woody Stephens when I dismissed Munnings parade perkiness as being too worked up, something I usually would be all over when playing from home. He looked nervous and little jumpy as they went by the grandstand and then bolted down the track after breaking from the pony. It was a tough call but I decided to go with “too keyed up”… ugh! On the bright side, it felt very much like Teuflesburg’s Woody Stephens (which I loved) where he finally gets the benefit of an optimal distance and puts it all together. (And let’s hope Hello Broadway finally finds his niche, I’d like to see him on turf). I saw Munnings break his maiden at Saratoga and I’m glad to see him find his niche, see you in the King’s Bishop!
Woody Stephens:
(partymanners)
While still bone headed, I don’t feel so bad about the Acorn because I at least had Gabby’s Golden Gal in the mix. She looked incredible in the parade, which is why I played her, although my win bet was Funny Moon. There was a tense moment after the race where Gabby’s Golden Gal was a little stressed. I couldn’t totally see what was going on but was glad when she didn’t lay down (although for a moment it looked like she was from my seat, which was extremely upsetting). No doubt Darley is rearranging the giant bags of money in the vault to make some room with their recent purchase of up and coming superstar stud Medaglia d’Oro.
Acorn:
(partymanners)
In the Manhattan I played Gio Ponti, Cosmonaut and Cowboy Cal. I had decided earlier in the day that I was not going to play Wesley even though he was my pick in his last out. He looked great in the parade and it was tempting but this was the one time where I had to deliberate during the parade and made the right call. See, there’s always a silver lining even when you lose, or so I tell myself. At least I got to see the race, which is more than can be said for the folks at home!
Woodford Reserve Manhattan:
(NTRA Horse Racing Channel)
Summer Bird did not surprise me as the winner, particularly since I had a nice win bet on him (and Flying Private). I mixed up those two with Mine That Bird in exactas and tris. As the day unfolded and the speed held up I was starting to second guess decision to not use Charitable Man. I was in the camp that his Peter Pan win was a dream trip and I wasn’t convinced that he would get the distance. I thought at the very least my three picks would get distance but thought the pace might be too soft. I had my fingers crossed for a Charitable Man, Miner’s Escape hook up.
The 3 that looked great in the parade were Mine That Bird, Summer Bird and Dunkirk. In fact, after the race Swifty and I both admitted that we had the same thought and decided not to say it out loud “Dunkirk is the only horse that makes me nervous”. Swifty’s play was a Summer Bird, Charitable Man & Mine That Bird trifecta box. Even the screeching tweens sitting beside us liked Dunkirk, “Dunkirk looks awesome” “Totally! He’s gonna WIIIIIIIIIIN”. We were sitting right in front of where they loaded them in the gate, which may have been my favorite part of the whole day.
As Dunkirk not only got the lead but set decent fractions, I was both happy and concerned. My runners were getting their preferred pace but it was Dunkirk, not Charitable Man, who was the speed to worry about. It looked like he was gonna throw in the towel as Mine That Bird came up to him but he held tough. When Summer Bird started to come on Swifty and I gave those tweens a run for their money in the shouting department… we were pretty much going bananas. I needed Mine That Bird to hold on for second and he needed the inquiry to take down Dunkirk, it didn’t work out for either of us but it was a helluva an exciting race!
Belmont Stakes:
(partymanners)
Summer Bird ushered in what looks to be a great summer of racing. What seemed like it might be a day full of uncontested chalk turned out to be full of excellent surprises, validations of improving form and notable redemptions. This can only bode well for some exciting racing as the year unfolds, and to quote Swifty, “who deserves it more than us?”
Posted by dana on Jun 07 2009
Filed Under: Bud Morton, Court Vision, Benny the Bull, Wrap Up, 2009, Twitter, Summer Bird, Mine That Bird, Dunkirk, Fabulous Strike, YouTube, Race Replay, Teuflesburg, Triple Crown, Belmont, Garrett Gomez, Calvin Borel, NYRA, Kent Desormeaux, Belmont Stakes, Racing
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(yausser)
Not old enough to know what a test pattern is? look it up, rotten kids!
Things have been a little busy around GbG manor lately. So, until I’m able to resume my somewhat regular posting habits, I offer a few tidbits, random brief thoughts and suggestions. Basically, an enhanced test pattern.
Mirroring current events, but worse! Racing offers the opposite of stimulus package.
In mainstream media madness, I’m not sure I agree but I hope he’s right!
On the Derby trail, or perhaps off… I think Saratoga Sinner’s injury will give him a better chance to turn into a nice horse… thanks universe!
And thanks for pointing this out, now I can’t not notice!
Wanna help some horses? Put your money where your pie hole is, go make a donation!
HANA has been releasing their handy and helpful top 20 track rating… currently on #9 working towards #1, think of them as the Consumer Reports for horseplayers. Bloodhorse is also helpfully posting numbers 1-10.
Rock On! GbG pal & regular photog Sarah K. Andrew has a fun series running on her blog featuring racing folks and their top ten album series. So far there’s GbG regular photog Bud, the excellent Bill Finely and in what has to be the best racing photo ever, Barbara Livingston doubling as a member of the Sleaze Sisters from the movie Times Square (oh, if she only had that sound track in her list). Full disclosure, my top 10 list will be published over there once I find a sufficiently embarrassing photo.
Need more proof that working in an office sucks? Watch minutes 2:44 to the end. Note: if you already hate working in an office, don’t watch this part. When it’s 2:30 and you’re stuck in a meeting, you’ll really be kicking yourself. The sound of jets in the background when Zenyatta is running is also pretty appropriate, even if it’s only a jog:
And finally, a Public Service Announcement: Let’s just keep this in mind if Stardom Bound does not devour her competition this weekend in the Las Virgenes:
Posted by dana on Feb 04 2009
Filed Under: Zenyatta, Industry, Bud Morton, Racing History, Stardom Bound, 2009, Mainstream Media, Sarah K. Andrew, Derby Trail, Rescue, Race Replay, You Can Help, YouTube, 3yo, Racing
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Note: this picture is not of the authoress of this site. (birdnest1384)
You’ve probably just walked in from doing all of your holiday shopping, making this list a mute point. But if you’re like me, you’re gonna wait till the last damn minute. Also, if you’re like me, you’re not gonna leave your house to shop. I think Amazon should use the following clip as advertising for why one should stay home to shop:
Here at GbG, we like to support our industry’s independent content creators. And with the recent spate of trade and mainstream media lay-offs, we’re expecting more independent content to support (and enjoy).
Let’s start with independent films. There’s a lot to choose from in this category and at the price point there’s no reason not to get all three! The First Saturday in May, Lost in the Fog and Women in American Racing are perfect stocking stuffers. I’ve seen the first two and both are great. Mother GbG ordered Women in American Racing for me and I’m using all my restraint to not unwrap and watch it (no doubt I will have watched by this time next week).
The First Saturday in May
Lost in the Fog:
Women in American Racing
You have may have noticed that there are a LOT of great photographers shooting racing. GbG would just be a bunch of boring words without their help. While I don’t know that all of them sell prints, you can always ask! I believe Charles Pravata and Sarah K. Andrew sell prints, but there’s also Raymond Haddad, Jason Moran, Bud Morton and new comer/old timer Walter Kobbe. Now that’s a classy present!
Looking to get more involved in racing? Why not give yourself the gift of ownership and join a partnership! There are several small, affordable, independent stables that just happen to be members of the TBA, which means you can read their thoughts and insights on racing and determine if they’re the type of people you want to do business with. My guess is that they are.
That’s Amore Stable has a new Peace Rules filly they’re plenty excited about, Grevelis Racing (blogging at Owning Racehorses) has a few openings in Miss Belle Express as well as some spots in their claiming partnership and Castle Village Farms (blogging at The Business of Racing) has new 2yo partnerships in New York, Florida and Canada.
Moving from the independent to the unique, I’m a big fan of eBay present getting and giving. A quick twirl around eBay this morning uncovered the following.
Wanna spend the big bucks on that Sunday Silence fan? You’re in luck, the 1990 Hollywood Gold Cup saddle cloth worn by Sunday Silence is up for auction, currently at a mere $4,999. The good news is no one has bid on it, so perhaps it will be relisted. I have no idea if that price is reasonable for memorabilia of this caliber, but here’s the race. Sunday Silence gives 1990 horse of the year Criminal Type a run for his money and places by what looks like a nose, very exciting. Imagine the price if he had won!
From one of the highlights of this summer, Little Belle’s saddle cloth from the Alabama is available, starting bid $.99… and no one has bid on it! The auction ends on Thursday so I doubt it will stay low for that long, but I’m watching it just in case. Little Belle was one of the many talented distaffers this year. Here she is showing to Proud Spell and Music Note after setting a very “deliberate” pace, as Durkin puts it.
With only 2 hours and change left to this auction, you might have a chance to own alleged Derby history with Whirlaway’s supposed horse shoe up for auction. The inability to authenticate it is no doubt keeping the price low, currently at $82, but an additional bid has come in since I spotted it this morning, so it might climb up a bit more. It would be very cool if it were in fact the real deal but one could probably never prove it. Fun item nonetheless. Update: it ended up going for $262, an absolute steal if the new owner could manage to authenticate.
From the price is right department (no E, I’m not talking about your beloved Bob Barker), there’s a groovy 70’s Preakness patch currently at $4.99 with no bids. It ends in 4 hours but I would imagine it would be relisted if there are no bids.
I’m sure all of you Alysheba fans are glad he’s returned safely to the States. Why not celebrate that with a copy of the 1988 Monmouth program for the Iselin Handicap? He beat one of his rivals, Bet Twice, by less than a length (sorry, no replay but the link points to a fab Alysheba information page).
I know at least one Spectacular Bid fan, perhaps he might like this 1979 Marlboro Cup Program, which ends tomorrow. Here’s the Bid crushing his competition in the race.
Last but not least, here’s a snazzy little design moment. An Air Mail envelope from Hollywood Turf Club’s Director of Publicity with a 1966 meter stamp. This one ends tomorrow with no bids and currently at $12.50, a great price for a unique piece of history!
Update, new items added!
Thanks to Equidaily, Paulick Report, Pull the Pocket and Raceday 360 for sending so many holiday shoppers over here to the GbG eBay shopping bonanza! Since several of the listed items have ended, I’ve added some new ones for your potential shopping enjoyment.
To avoid anymore Spectacular Bidding wars, this Spectacular Bid item is a first come, first serve with Buy it Now at $32. It’s a lovely vintage (read possibly slightly dingy) Spectacular Bid / Bill Shoemaker 1980 T Shirt size large. If you buy it, please send a photo sporting it! I was going to tell you all about the Spectacular Bid / Bud Delp / Meadowlands (Awesome!) Belt Buckle, but I bought it instead (sorry!). Sidebar, Bud Delp and I share the same eye wear.
Why not bundle this next item with Lost in the Fog? It’s a Russel Baze “I was there #9351″ Pin currently listed at $.99. It was given away on the day Russell Baze broke the record for most wins by a North American jockey. Russell Baze was Lost in the Fog’s jockey.
Speaking of Northern California, here’s something for your favorite Northern California racing fan that happens to be an aficionado of late 70’s design. It’s a lovely 1979 Pin from the recently closed Bay Meadows.
I know several folks who might like this one… 1972 Clairborne Farm Yearling & Horse Catalog, currently listed at $9.99.
Want more programs? 3 Programs from 1983 Suburban / Woodward / Jockey Club Gold Cup programs (a three-fer!), includes Slew O’ Gold & John Henry currently at $9.95.
History buffs should prepare to freak out… 1773 Sporting Calendar described as “The Sporting Calendar: Containing an Account of the Plates, Matches, and Sweepstakes, That Have Been Run for in Great-Britain, Ireland and North-America in the Year 1773. (Volume 5) by Thomas Fawconer” currently $200(ish, it’s in GBP).
And how about a couple of items for our harness racing friends? There’s the 1931 American Sportsman featuring 1930 Hambletonian winner Hanover’s Bertha currently at $14.99 and a First Edition 1949 “Horses of Destiny” by Fairfax Downey and Paul Brown currently at $25.29 to name a few.
STILL not inspired? As mentioned before Geno has a nice list and for the more bookish MaryJean Wall has an excellent vintage reading list complete with original covers. Raceday360 is also handily keeping track of all gift suggestion posts! Best of luck with your shopping, and here’s ho ho hoping you get some rockin’ gifts too!
Posted by dana on Dec 13 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Partnerships, Monmouth Park, Proud Spell, Raymond Haddad, Racing History, Bud Morton, Jason Moran, TBA, Sarah K. Andrew, Hollywood Park, Race Replay, Belmont, Tom Durkin, Film, Charles Pravata, YouTube, First Saturday in May, Racing
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